FSSAI bans Old Monk for adding rum flavor to rum
What's the story
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has banned the sale of three variants of Old Monk rum. The affected variants are The Legend, Gold Reserve, and XXX Matured Rum. The ban also extends to other popular brands like McDowell's No 1 Rum, Bagpiper Deluxe Whisky, Old Cask Deluxe XXX Rum, Central Province Whisky, Antiquity Blue Whisky, and Royal Challenge Whisky.
Flavor controversy
Concerns over use of artificial flavors in alcoholic beverages
The FSSAI has raised concerns over the use of artificial flavors in alcoholic beverages, instead of proper aging techniques.
The regulator said that while it permits natural flavoring substances in alcoholic drinks, its tests found some manufacturers adding flavors from the drink itself.
This practice was called misleading consumers by the FSSAI as there is no globally accepted manufacturing practice where rum or whisky flavor is added to their respective drinks.
Test results
What do the tests show?
Laboratory tests on rums and whiskies from various manufacturers have shown that these products are substandard due to the presence of external artificial or nature-identical flavors.
The FSSAI said, "the addition of artificial flavors is masking its natural flavor and making the product substandard."
It added that these products should have ideally been labeled as "flavored/premix rum" instead of their current names.
Age claim
Deceptive age claim
The FSSAI also flagged Old Monk's age claim on its XXX Rum variant label, saying it is "deceptive."
The regulator said that the main ingredient of this product is neutral spirit while matured rum spirit is a minor ingredient.
This violates existing regulations as the age claim of the spirit should be from the youngest spirit in the blend according to FSS (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations, 2018.